Pages of this blog

Wednesday 18 December 2013

JAR-FCL RTF / EASA ATO, and the consequences for my PPL Training

Just to throw out some more abbreviations here, I wrote another article on the changing legislation in the world of aviation. More specifically: the world of Flight Crew Licensing. I'm hoping to shed some light on the matter, for the benefit of those that have recently started their PPL training, or are about to start that training (like myself). It all started with a discussion on the legislation concerning training organisations, and the licensing of those organisations, and on what the consequences for students would be. Especially the transition from the "old" regime to the "new" regime, and in how far the "old" education would be recognised end fully creditable towards the "new" education. Lots of that discussion is based on the personal interpretation of the applicable legislation, so there's a certain uncertaincy in the arguments used. Therefore, I decided to ask the executive institute for the Netherlands (the "competent authority"), IL&T (Inspectie Leefomgeving en Transport)


Thursday 14 November 2013

Two down, Five to go!

I've just had my first two theretical exams for my PPL course. If I am to believe the preliminary answers, I passed both exams! :D Only five more to go ...

Totally nerveous, I arrived at the exam venue of CBR/CCV. That is the same institute that does the exams for drivers licences (CCV is the professional transportation section of that organisation). I was well on time, as usual, but not the first, this time! There were two others of my theory class already there. The rest of the group came in, minutes after me, so we were all in time. Five minutes before the start of the exam, we started question ing if we were in the correct waiting room ... One of us had a look, and sure enough we had to move to the second floor (no signs whatsoever on ground floor!). Just in time, we all got there, and were alowed in the classroom.


Monday 28 October 2013

Theory, theory, theory

I have started my PPL (Private Pilot's License) theory course by now. That consists of 7 subjects, each with their own exam. I get 18 months to pass all exams, starting from the first try. They are multiple-choice questions, of which at least 75% of the answers need to be correct, to pass the test. During the 18 months, one gets 8 tries, and in those 8 tries, one has to pass all 7 subjects. The strategy will be to do multiple exams per try, but not too many, because then you'll be too worn down for the last test. Plus, you'd need to study all the subjects at once, and chances are, that you'll have forgotten too much of the first subject you started to study, already.
Furthermore, one has to follow classes with a state-accredited (flight) school, so doing it all as self-study is not allowed. Not that I had intended to do it all by  myself! I know quite a lot already through my Flight Simming experience. But all that, I got from well-meaning amateurs like myself. So it is very well possible that I have taught myself wrong things. And for sure I did not teach myself everything. KLM Aeroclub does not have enough appliccants to maintain a certified instructor for theory classes, and to keep the theory education certificate valid every year. So I registered with another certified flight school: "Dwarf Powered Gliders", based atHilversum Airport (EHHV), after consulting with my Flight Instructor, and some flying friends.

Dwarf Powered Gliders, off to the right of "Vliegschool Hilversum"

Friday 30 August 2013

$100 mussels

The $ 100 burger is a phenomenon well known in the U.S. General Aviation . It has its origins in the search for a destination to fly to. Lacking a "real" reason to go anywhere , a trip to a distant restaurant obviously is a good excuse to have some air flow under the wings.
As a variant of this , I found the mussel fly-in on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Aeroclub Zeeland a good reason to book the Aquila. This time with Piet de Hondt as an instructor and thus my first flying lesson in "my own" air plane was booked :)
For me, so no $ 100 Hamburger, but mussels , this time !


And : this time the bad weather came only a day later , so I've actually flown my first flying lesson in the Aquila!

Friday 16 August 2013

First Flight

I finally got to fly "my own" plane! :)

So far, I have flown a lesson in a C172 (PH-ACT of and with Ronald Janssen, Zelf Vliegen), and in the Aquila demonstrator plane (F-HARN with Flight Instructor Ferry Herfst, KLM Aeroclub). Also , I have flown along with an Antonov An-2 (D-FONL, Classic Wings, EHTE-EHSE-EDLV-EHTE), AT-3 (SP-ACY, with Erwin van den Boom, Bami Aviation, via Zelf Vliegen), DA-20 (PH-FLK, with Wouter Nagel, Diamond Flyers), and recently, of course, with a Piper Comanche (D-EGHE, of and with Kees de Hoogh). I have written about that in previous posts, so go look them up if you like :)
But now, the moment I've been waiting for was finally there: my first flight in the plane which I partially own!

Wednesday 29 May 2013

Eastbound



I wasn't going to go to a bunch of airshows I knew about, because I would be on holiday doing other stuff at that time. There was Oostwold Airshow, the 80th anniversary of the Eindhoven Aeroclub (including a flfy-in), Harbour days in Hoorn (with the Dutch PBY Katalina), the Texel Taildragger Fly-In, and "Volkel in the
Clouds", with Frank Versteegh. All very nice ways to spend a day, but I hadn't done anything to go there yet. Until a couple of days ago, when I was contacted by Cees Ootjers of KLM Aeroclub. He knew of a plane that would fly to Oostwold Airshow, and still had two sets unoccupied ... Needless to say I was quickly convinced. I asked my brother in law, Edwin, along, and he agreed instantly too :)
Oostwold Airshow is an airshow at a green strip east of the city of Groningen. As it is a green strip, most planes are SEP (Single Engine Piston), exactly my favourite :)
Early morning, the weather did not look very "fly-able":


Friday 12 April 2013

Static Line



So, what do you do when you don't have the money to start flightschool just yet? You save up, of course! And in the mean time, you do all sorts of other flight-related stuff.

I started to study PPL theory from the books I got for my last birthday (thanks again, everybody!). I also enrolled in a scientific experiment that involves a full-motion Flight Simulator... I visit the social evenings at KLM Aeroclub as much as possible, like the other day with a lecture on meteorology. I'll write about these things during the time I need to get my finances in order, but what I wanted to write about today, is a foundation called "Stichting Hoogvliegers". That would translate to "Highflyers Foundation".
Stichting Hoogvliegers defined their goal as "to make (chronically or terminally) ill, or (physically or mentally) challenged children (age 6 through 16) pilot for one day". They do that by organising flights for individual children, and their accompanists, and group days with flights for 50 to 100 childeren. These flights and days are organised at all airports in the Netherlands (including Schiphol!). April 6th, a group day was organised at Lelystad Airport, hosted by KLM Aeroclub. So I quickly enrolled as volunteer for this day.

Below, a report of my experiences that day.



Sunday 20 January 2013

Fleet inspection

A new year, new opportunities!
2013 promises to be a beautiful flying year. I hope to start with my PPL course, but I suspect that the old savings account will only allow for that by the end of this year. In the mean time, I will try to fly "my" "Q" together with one or more flying friends. "Q", as the PH-KLQis being called by insiders because of all the high-tech features built in, looks just beautiful, and well in place between her sisters in the KLM Aeroclub hangar.

A little panorama-app experiment with my iPhone:
Panorama link
Took this one during the New Years reception at KLM Aeroclub on Friday, the 4th of Januari.

More to follow, as my flying adventures expand ...